See secret location where Ukraine trains to destroy Russian tanks

In Ukraine, ordinary civilian drones are proving indispensable in the war effort. CNN's Christiane Amanpour visits a training facility to see how this 21st century tech is transforming the battlefield -- often at the hands of some unlikely pilots. #CNN #News

The Daily Digest
Second criminal indictment looms for Trump as he seeks to regain the White House

Story by Zeleb.es • 12 June 2023

Federal indictment
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on seven counts in the special counsel’s classified documents probe, making it the first time a former president has faced federal charges, serveral media reported.

Violation of the Espionage Act
The grand jurors concluded Trump violated a portion of the Espionage Act: US criminal code Section 793, which prohibits “gathering, transmitting or losing” any “information respecting the national defence”, by removing classified documents and storing them at his Mar-a-Lago property.

Obstruction of justice and false statements
Moreover, Trump was also indicted on charges of destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy and false statements, his lawyer told CNN. During the year-long investigation he made his Mar-a-Lago workers lie to investigators, according to The Independent.

Also indicted in March
This adds further weight to his legal baggage, since he was also indicted on March 30, that time on state charges, by the Manhattan district attorney, for paying “hush money” to an adult film star in 2016.

$130,000 in exchange for silence
Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen acknowledged arranging a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels (pictured) in exchange for her silence about her sexual involvement with Trump in 2006.

Can Trump go to prison?
According to CNN analyst Zachary B. Wolf, “people do routinely serve prison time for retention of classified documents, conspiracy and obstruction, but top officials accused of wrongdoing also have historically found a way out of jail.”

Can Trump still be elected president?
The criminal indictments have raised a number of legal questions; one of them being: do criminal charges disqualify Trump from being elected president? The short answer is no.

Requirements for US presidency
Even though it was the first time a US president or former president was indicted, the country’s Constitution sets forth very explicit requirements for presidency: being at least 35 years old, a U.S. resident for 14 years and a natural-born citizen.

Governing from jail?
The Constitution does not require, however, that the president be free from indictment, conviction or prison. So a person under indictment or in prison may run for office and may even serve as president.

Core functions affected
That being said, Fortune Magazine recalled that the Department of Justice concluded, in a 1973 memo, that governing from jail would be extremely difficult as core functions would be affected.

The difficulties of governing from jail
According to the 1973 memo, “the President plays an unparalleled role in the execution of the laws, the conduct of foreign relations, and the defense of the Nation,” which include several meetings abroad, for instance.

Access to classified information from jail?
Moreover, presidents need access to classified information and briefings, which must often be stored and viewed in a secure room that has been protected against all manner of spying, something that’s likely unavailable in a prison.

The Daily Digest
Ten DeSantis policies that are too much even for Trump

Story by Zeleb.es • 4-6-2023

DeSantis presidential race
Ron DeSantis is officially putting his name in the 2024 Republican Primary race and his eyes are on the US Presidential election that same year. The Florida Governor is well known for his "anti-woke" rhetoric, but what are his policies?

Cristicism from other candidates
DeSantis has faced criticism from other primary candidates due to some policies they find too restricting or contrary to the party's beliefs.

Disney board
An example is the board DeSantis appointed to oversee all Disney developments in the state during a very public battle with the company.

Unrepublican
According to the Associated Press, candidates like Nikki Haley and Mike Pence have said that the DeSantis board is attacking businesses, which is not the Republican thing to do.

Abortion ban
Another policy that raised eyebrows even among his conservative peers is his six-week abortion ban. The AP said DeSantis signed the measure in a private ceremony without fanfare.

Trump's reaction
His rival Trump told The Messenger that DeSantis's ban on abortion was viewed as "too harsh" by "many people within the pro-life movement."

Immigration overhaul
Other DeSantis policies have gone under the radar of his opponent but are far more rigid than any implemented by former President Trump, like his immigration overhaul.

Driver's licenses and IDs
According to CNN, the law invalidates out-of-state IDs, such as driver's licenses, issued to undocumented immigrants and forces employers with more than 25 workers to check their status.

Healthcare
The immigration law also requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to include a citizenship question on intake forms, says the AP, which would discourage undocumented people from seeking medical assistance.

Drag Shows
A new law gave the administration power to take away licenses from establishments if they allowed children into an "adult live performance," widely interpreted as a crackdown on drag shows, said CNN.

Diversity and equality programs
Those new policies align with what critics call the "Don't Say Gay" law, prohibiting schools from teaching about gender identity and sexuality, which DeSantis recently expanded to all grades.

Defunding diversity equity and inclusion programs
The Florida governor also defunded state colleges' diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. According to Reuters, many higher education experts and free speech advocates opposed this policy.

Stopping African American studies in high schools
The defunding was signed the same month the DeSantis administration blocked an Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught at high schools, explained the AP.

Direct involvement in School Boards
Amid the US book-banning fever, the Florida governor issued pass three state laws aimed at reading or educational materials, according to The New York Times, removing books like The Handmaid's Tale from school libraries.

Showbizz Daily
Stormy Daniels: the adult star who could put Trump behind bars

Story by Zeleb.es • 8h ago - 27-3-2023

Her first meeting with Trump
Stormy and Donald met in Lake Tahoe, Nevada at a golf tournament in 2006. According to CNN, she said that a Trump bodyguard escorted her to his room where they had dinner and intimate relations afterward.

The Guardian
Trump claims he ‘will be arrested’ on Tuesday in New York criminal case

Ex-president makes remark on Truth Social without any official confirmation of the likelihood or timing of charges being brought

Also on Saturday, Trump sent out a fundraising email that said the “Manhattan DA could be close to charging Trump”.

And in a later, inflammatory message on Truth Social he slammed the current government with a post beginning: “It’s time!!! We are a nation in steep decline being led into world war III by a crooked politician” and ending: “We must save America! Protest, protest, protest!!!”

Since leaving the White House, Trump lives at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and moved his residency status from his native New York.

David Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach country in Florida, told CNN that if Trump was indicted in New York “there will be protests here” and added: “You have to worry about potential violence.”

He noted that there would be questions about whether Trump would surrender to the New York authorities or face extradition from Florida.

It emerged in January that Bragg had made the surprise move to impanel a grand jury to hear evidence in the Daniels case.

Daniels met with investigators in Manhattan earlier this week to discuss Trump’s role in a $130,000 payment she received in 2016 aimed at dissuading her from going public about claims she had a sexual liaison with Trump in 2006, before his political career but during his marriage to Melania Trump – an infidelity Trump denies.

This as Cohen gave testimony before the New York grand jury into the case. In 2016 during the election that Trump went on to win, Cohen made the payment and arranged another payout to a different woman, as Trump faced allegations of previous sexual assault and harassment from multiple women – with the money paid at Trump’s direction, Cohen has asserted.

Any charges in this case would most likely involve state crimes of falsifying business records, typically a misdemeanor but a felony if it was part of a cover-up or wider criminal wrongdoing, and here could revolve around campaign finance illegality.

Federal prosecutors in 2018 charged Cohen with campaign finance crimes related to payments to Daniels and to a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, arguing that the payouts amounted to impermissible gifts to Trump’s election effort.

McDougal, who was paid $150,000, alleged she had an affair with the married Trump in 2006-2007. He denied it.

Cohen pleaded guilty, served prison time and was disbarred. Federal prosecutors never charged Trump with any crime.

Separately, last year the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, announced the appointment of Jack Smith, a veteran prosecutor and top former justice department official, as special counsel to oversee the investigations into Trump’s role in retaining classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and his efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

And in Georgia, the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, is investigating whether Trump interfered in the 2020 election in the state.

Donald Trump in Ohio in November 2022. Photograph: Michael Conroy/AP

Russia plans to recover wreckage of US drone downed over Black Sea

The Guardian - News - 17-3-2023

US says any recovery operation in such deep water would be difficult and unlikely to yield useful intelligence

Moscow has said it intends to recover the wreckage of a US drone brought down on Tuesday following an interception by Russian fighter jets, but US officials said the debris could be in such deep water that recovery is impossible, and would have no real intelligence value.

“I don’t know if we can recover [it] or not, but we will certainly have to do that, and we will deal with it,” said Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s security council, on Wednesday. “I certainly hope for success.”

Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, said Russia had the technological capability to recover the debris of the MQ-9 Reaper drone from the seabed. The impact site is believed to be in international waters off the west coast of occupied Crimea, where Russia has established naval bases and airfields.

Turkey has barred access for warships through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began over a year ago, and the US navy does not have any warships currently in the Black Sea. John Kirby, the spokesman for the national security council, said on Wednesday the wreck might not be salvageable.

“It has not been recovered. And I’m not sure that we’re going to be able to recover it,” Kirby told CNN. “Where it fell into the Black Sea [is] very, very deep water. So we’re still assessing whether there can be any kind of recovery effort. There may not be.”

Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that where the drone had come down, the sea was up to 5,000 feet (1524 metres) deep, “so any recovery operation is very difficult at that depth, by anyone”.

Although the US had no ships in the Black Sea, Milley noted that it had “a lot of allies and friends in the area”.

“We will work through recovery operations. That’s US property. But it probably broke up. There’s probably not a lot to recover, frankly,” he said. “As far as the loss of any sensitive intelligence … we did take mitigating measures. So we are quite confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value.”

The US claimed the drone was damaged on Tuesday morning by a Russian Su-27 fighter jet hitting its propeller after a pair of Su-27s had spent at least half an hour trying to disrupt the Reaper, by dumping fuel on it and flying in front of it. Moscow denies its aircraft came into contact with the drone and insists it fell from the sky after making a “sharp manoeuvre”.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, spoke about the incident to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, on Wednesday.

“It’s important that great powers be models of transparency and communication,” Austin said, adding that he had complained about “a pattern of risky and aggressive” behavior by Russian military pilots. Austin said that video and photographs of the incident were being assessed for security reasons before publication, but said they confirmed the US account of the incident.

Members of Trump's inner circle distance themselves from his 2024 run

Story by Katelyn Caralle, U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com • 8h ago

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Trump's White House press secretary and was one of his most staunch supporters throughout his tenure, has refused to take a side in the upcoming presidential election.

Trump called Sanders recently to ask for her support, the New York Times reported earlier this month, but she wasn't ready to wade into the waters of an endorsement for 2024.

'I love the president, have a great relationship with him,' Sanders told Fox News in January. 'I know our country would be infinitely better off if he was in office right now instead of Joe Biden, but right now my focus isn't 2024, it's focusing here in Arkansas.'

Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Sanders, told CNN that her comment still stands two months later.

The distancing from Trump comes as the 2024 primary race heats up and reports emerge that DeSantis will announce his candidacy as early as May. The Sunshine State's leader has started touring the country and visiting key states – like Iowa and New Hampshire – that indicate an announcement is impending.

Two former aides reached by CNN say that they want to remain neutral in the 2024 race, while three others refused to weigh-in publicly.

Trump's former 2016 campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson was noncommittal about an endorsement.

Former senior Trump administration official Ken Cuccinelli launched a super PAC Thursday to get Governor Ron DeSantis elected president in 2024
© Provided by Daily Mail

Lewandowski has been by the former president's side for many of his trips to New Hampshire, but opted out of Trump's first visit there in his 2024 bid for president despite being invited to attend.

While many see this as his continual drifting from Trump, Lewandowski says it was just bad timing.

'I was over 1,500 miles away, and Mr. Trump was well aware of that,' Lewandowski told CNN.

He added that his relationship with Trump has 'never changed for the last eight years' – even though more than a dozen people in Trump's orbit noted a change.

Another stab-in-the-back is Cuccinelli starting a PAC directly aimed at getting Trump's biggest rival elected the GOP nominee in 2024.

NEVER BACK DOWN PAC filed paperwork in late February with the Federal Election Commission and is now the fourth political committee created to encourage DeSantis to run.

'I have been speaking to many grassroots conservative activists around the country who are very enthusiastic for Governor DeSantis to run for president in 2024,' Cuccinelli said in a statement on the PAC's formation.

'The energy is there, grassroots conservatives see the governor as a leader and a fighter with a winning conservative track record who will lead the Republican Party to victory in 2024. Based on those conversations, I am most confident that we will build an unmatched grassroots political army for Governor DeSantis to help carry him to the White House.'

Trump is still holding onto some tried-and-true supporters within his inner-circle, including Jason Miller, who worked on his 2016 and 2020 campaigns; social media guru Dan Scavino; and Steve Bannon

Members of Trump's inner circle distance themselves from his 2024 run

Story by Katelyn Caralle, U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com • 8h ago

Donald Trump continues to see a drop-off in support from allies and a refusal from members of his former inner-circle to support his 2024 run.

Of the nine former Trump campaign officials reached by CNN, only three said that they publicly plan to support the former president's third consecutive White House bid.

Once Trump's top trusted campaign manager, Corey Lewsandowski is reportedly privately pitching potential Republican candidates to go up against the former president in the primary elections – including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.

Lewandowski, who is a New Hampshire resident, was not with Trump during his visit to the Granite State in January. The former Trump aide, however, insists that he has not 'courted any other GOP candidates for president.'

Legal expert has warning about potential star witness in Trump probe

CNN's Elie Honig says that prosecutors deciding to charge Trump in the Stormy Daniel hush money case based on testimony from Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen could prove problematic.

01:20 - Source: CNN

CNN — Australia plans to purchase at least four nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines from the United States, three sources familiar with the matter said, part of an emerging defense partnership widely viewed as a bid to counter China’s military ambitions in the Pacific.

Delivery of the submarines isn’t likely for years, potentially into the 2030s, but the expected announcement will act as a demonstration of progress by the AUKUS grouping, comprised of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the plan, which Reuters first reported, at a news event in Ahmedabad, India, on Wednesday.

While he did not provide details of the plan, he emphasized that his country will retain “absolute sovereignty” when it comes to control of nuclear-powered submarines acquired through the AUKUS partnership.

Asked by a journalist whether “Australia will retain full operational control of submarines, or could they be commanded by Americans,” Albanese said: “Australia will retain absolutely our sovereignty, our absolute sovereignty, 100%.”

The Virginia-class is the latest fast attack submarine in the Navy, intended to replace the aging fleet of Los Angeles-class submarines. Unlike the ballistic missile submarines, which are part of the US nuclear arsenal, fast attack submarines can employ a number of different weapons, including torpedoes and cruise missiles. The submarines can also carry special operations forces and carry out intelligence and reconnaissance missions.

Australia is also expected to work with the United Kingdom on developing a new class of nuclear-powered submarine, which could include US parts, the sources said, as the three countries move ahead with the defense partnership.

President Joe Biden will host the prime ministers of Australia and the United Kingdom in California next week to discuss the next steps in the partnership.

After announcing the AUKUS partnership in 2021, officials from the three countries have been working through plans to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, including legal issues in transferring classified technology and how to train Australian sailors on the submarines.

As part of the announcement, US submarines are likely to increase their visits to Australian ports in the coming years, before the eventual delivery of the new Australian submarines.

In purchasing US Virginia-class submarines while also developing submarines based on a British model, both the US and UK’s industrial bases will stand to benefit.

The AUKUS partnership is meant as a way to increase security in the Pacific region amid escalating tensions with China.

In San Diego on Monday, Biden is expected to discuss the plan with Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Both will be visiting the United States for the first time since assuming their roles. San Diego hosts a large US naval presence, including submarines, for the Pacific Fleet.

Negotiations have been ongoing for more than a year on the nuclear-powered submarines, which caused consternation when they were announced because it scuttled Australia’s plans to purchase conventional submarines from France.

Biden at the time called the rollout of the AUKUS submarine plan “clumsy.”